The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 328: Help the Enemy

The wheel of history rolled forward, and during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the war between the Ming Dynasty and Japan was inevitable.

This is related to the extremely aggressive nature of the Japanese pirates in Japan, and also to the development trends of both sides.

Since the reigns of Emperors Renzong and Xuanzong, when the Ming Dynasty stopped fighting and began to support the people, its strength had been declining. The Battle of Tumu made the Ming Dynasty's strength plummet even further.

The Japanese pirates in the south and the northern barbarians in the Jiajing period further accelerated the decline of the Ming Dynasty.

More importantly, since Jiajing clearly reused the corrupt official Yan Song, the Ming Dynasty's civil servants underwent a fundamental change.

Before Yan Song came to power, there were corrupt officials in the Ming Dynasty, but most of them were corrupt in secret, fearing that they would be discovered and lose face.

After Yan Song came to power, the civil officials of the Ming Dynasty seemed to suddenly realize that corrupt officials could also become prime ministers, be valued by the emperor, and have power over the world. The key point was that until the end, Jiajing did not execute Yan Song.

In other words, Jiajing felt that a corrupt official like Yan Song did not deserve the death penalty!
This time, it's over.

Yan Song was corrupt and nothing happened to him, so why didn't he become corrupt? No matter how corrupt he was, it was impossible for him to be as corrupt as Yan Song, right?
The Ming Dynasty's civil servants have experienced a qualitative decline since then. Corrupt officials have emerged like mushrooms after rain, and there are few truly incorruptible officials.

The corrupt officials embezzled the money and grain of the imperial court. The money and grain of the imperial court all went into the pockets of the corrupt officials. Where did the money and grain come from to support enough troops?
If it were not for Zhang Juzheng's reforms that extended the life of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty in history would most likely have perished during the Wanli period!

During this period, Japan was rapidly achieving unification and its strength was growing stronger and stronger.

Historically, when Zhang Juzheng died in the tenth year of Wanli, the Honnoji Incident occurred in Japan and Oda Nobunaga also died.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty and Japan were heading in completely opposite directions.

The Ming Dynasty was controlled by the three powerful families of Puzhou who had secret dealings with the northern barbarians. Zhang Siwei instigated Emperor Wanli to abolish Zhang Juzheng's reforms. From then on, the Ming Dynasty entered the countdown to its demise.

However, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was more powerful than Oda Nobunaga, came to power in Japan, which directly accelerated the process of unification of Japan.

In the 18th year of the Wanli reign, which was the 18th year of Tensho in Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi completed the unification.

At this time, the ambition of this Japanese regent had expanded to the extreme.

Some people say that the wars between the Japanese princes were like fights between villages. In fact, this is a misunderstanding.

There were instances in which the great wars between the Japanese princes involved more than 100,000 or even 200,000 troops.

At this time, Toyotomi Hideyoshi had as many as 500,000 to 600,000 troops under his command.

Naturally, he became extremely inflated. In his opinion, five or six hundred thousand men who admired martial arts could easily destroy the Ming Dynasty, which had been trained by the civil officials to be like women!

Of course, the Ming Dynasty at this time was no longer the Ming Dynasty in history. The men in the Ming Dynasty’s capital camp, border troops and navy were far more numerous than the Japanese pirates.

Wanli was actually a little worried that Toyotomi Hideyoshi would not dare to fight.

If Toyotomi Hideyoshi didn't dare to come out and fight, it would be troublesome.

The difference between offense and defense is huge. If Toyotomi Hideyoshi led his army to the vassal state of Korea, he could destroy the main force of the Japanese pirates in Korea and then attack the Japanese mainland. In this way, the casualties should not be too great.

If Toyotomi Hideyoshi was frightened and retreated, and frantically strengthened the defenses, he would have to pay at least ten times more casualties if he wanted to destroy Japan.

This is not to boost others' morale or destroy one's own prestige. When the Northern Yuan Dynasty was at its strongest, it sent troops to Japan twice but failed to conquer it.

If Japan defends with all its might, it would be strange if he could take it down easily.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then asked, "Do you think Toyotomi Hideyoshi would still dare to attack Ming after knowing its current strength?"

This is it.

Li Dan thought about it carefully, then said cautiously: "I think Toyotomi Hideyoshi will still fight, because his ambition is too great, and he has already made it known that not fighting will have a great impact on his prestige.

Another point is that all is fair in war. If he hasn't seen it with his own eyes, he probably won't believe that the Ming Dynasty is so powerful now. He will think we are deliberately spreading false information to scare him, but he is not easily frightened."

This is indeed true. Once a person's ambition expands, it is difficult to curb it.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "What are the main goods you sell to Japan?"

It seems that Japan is about to attack us, and you suddenly ask me this?
Li Dan quickly explained, "Your Majesty, it's not that I want to aid the enemy. It's the higher-ups who asked me to go to Japan to do business. Shen Weijing goes there often."

I know that the Zhejiang Party is secretly communicating with the Japanese pirates.

Wanli smiled slightly and said, "It's no problem to aid the enemy. If Japan needs anything urgently, we can send more to them."

Are you being sarcastic?

Li Dan asked carefully, "Your Majesty, are you still doing business with Japan?"

Wanli nodded without hesitation and said, "Yes, of course. It would be a waste not to make money. What do they need urgently? Tell me."

Are you serious?
Li Dan recalled, "The merchants over in Japan all said they wanted soybeans, smoked fish, deerskin, and so on."

What is this?

Wanli was puzzled and asked, "What do they want these for?"

Li Dan explained in detail: "The Japanese believe in Buddhism, and their emperor has long ago banned the consumption of pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese and other poultry and livestock. They can only eat fish, shrimp and hunted game.

It is estimated that all the wild game that can be hunted has been hunted by them. As for fish and shrimp, they will go bad after a short time. If they are far away from the sea, they can only eat smoked fish.

Therefore, there was not much food to eat in Japan. The common people could only afford vegetables and tofu. Ordinary pirates only had tofu. Smoked fish was only affordable for the rich and samurai. Since they did not eat poultry and livestock, few people raised poultry and livestock. At most, they raised cattle to plow the fields. It was very cold there, and ordinary cotton-padded jackets could not withstand it. Therefore, they needed to purchase a large amount of deerskin to make warm clothing.

Deerskin is also one of the main materials used in their armor. If the armor is not covered with deerskin, it would be very annoying."

Oh, these are military supplies. If we don’t have meat and eat some tofu and fish, we won’t have the strength to fight.

No, we have to find a way to sell more to Toyotomi Hideyoshi so that he can become extremely powerful.

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked, "Where are soybeans produced? I don't think I've ever seen soybeans grown anywhere."

Li Dan said without hesitation, "Soybeans are mainly produced in Jiangnan. Currently, there are at least 10 to 20 million mu of land in Jiangnan dedicated to soybean cultivation."

what?
So much land for soybeans!
Wanli asked curiously, "Is soybean farming profitable?"

Li Dan explained carefully: "No, Your Majesty, soybeans are cheaper than grain, and one acre can only produce a few dozen kilograms of soybeans.

However, soybeans and rice can be rotated, and fields planted with soybeans are more fertile than ordinary fields and have far fewer pests. Furthermore, beans can be ground into tofu, and the dregs can be fed to pigs. Therefore, many farmers in Jiangnan grow soybeans.

Oh, it turns out that soybeans are an excellent green manure for rice.

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "How much soybeans do you sell to Japan every year?"

Uh, that stuff isn't very profitable.

Li Dan said carefully, "Your Majesty, merchants over there usually don't ask me to bring soybeans, and I won't bring that stuff.

"Soybeans are worth three dan (1 tael) of silver in Jiangnan, but if you sell them to Japan, you can only get one dan (1 tael) of silver. Besides, soybeans take up space and weigh down the ship, so selling anything else is more profitable than selling soybeans."

What you said is true. Do you know how much loss the Ming Dynasty would suffer if one more soldier died?

What I am thinking about now is how to reduce the casualties among soldiers.

It doesn’t matter whether you make money or not, you’ll make money no matter what you sell.

Wanli pondered and said, "How about this? I will have the navy's 1,000-ton and 2,000-ton Fuzhou ships mixed in with your fleet to deliver goods. You can deliver as many soybeans as they want.

However, the navy ships cannot be exposed, as if they are, the Japanese pirates will definitely suspect our purpose.

By the way, isn't Japan an island nation? Will they still be short of fish?"

They are not good at building ships.

Li Dan explained in detail, "Your Majesty, Japan's shipbuilding capabilities are far inferior to ours. Moreover, their 400-ton and 800-ton ships are built for warships, not fishing boats. Japanese fishing boats are small boats of 100, 200, or even dozens of tons, and cannot fish too far from the shore."

Oh, that's easy.

Wanli pondered, "How about this? I'll send a thousand centipede boats equipped with fishing gear to the waters south of the Yangtze River estuary to fish. The fish will be smoked at the Navy Harbor, and then we'll sell them as much as we can. The profit doesn't matter; the key is to let them catch them."

Upon hearing this, Li Dan nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Next up is the deerskin.

Wanli asked directly: "Where in the Ming Dynasty can deerskin be produced?"

Li Dan said without hesitation: "Deerskin is mainly produced in the villages in Dongfan. We can just bring daily necessities to exchange. The profit is quite large."

well.

Wanli thought about it carefully and said decisively: "Don't let your superiors know that you have accepted the surrender. You can still take the goods from them, but don't hand over the money to them.

Give some of the money you've swindled to Shen Weijing and ask him to help negotiate, saying that the foreign merchants who bought the goods haven't paid you yet. You can keep the rest as food and wages for your men. Just drag it out like this, and try to delay it as much as possible."

Uh, you still let me go to uh their goods!

Li Dan thought about it carefully, then said cautiously: "Your Majesty, if the money is not handed over to them at all, it won't last long.

There have been cases of overdue payments in the past, but not all those who do business with us have overdue payments, so I feel that we cannot deduct all the payments at the beginning, because if we deduct all the payments, we will not be able to delay the payment.

I think it would be better to pay part of the payment at the beginning, and then gradually reduce the amount later. If you extort money a few more times, you will get more money.

Besides, my men don't need much food and wages. Even if it's hundreds of millions of taels of silver for this trip, I wouldn't dare swallow it. After deducting the food and wages, I will hand it all over to His Majesty."

This guy is quite obedient and sensible. The key is that the overseas business will have to rely on him in the future, so we have to win him over.

However, this guy is already a notorious pirate leader, so he cannot be directly promoted and reused.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then said solemnly: "Well, that's right. I will give you the name Li Yuansheng, and give you a hereditary thousand-household family in Quanzhou Guard. In the future, you will be a lieutenant general of the navy and serve under Kemai."

Oh, now he has become a lieutenant general of the navy, and his origin has become a hereditary captain!

Li Dan, or rather Li Yuansheng, could not help but bow excitedly and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace."

Wanli nodded slightly, then instructed, "Kemai, take the navy's 1,000-ton and 2,000-ton Fuzhou ships and go visit Yuansheng. Pay close attention to the terrain along the coast of Japan, especially the ports and docks. Draw them all."

Yu Zigao quickly bowed and said, "I will obey your order."

(End of this chapter)